Thoughts on Matrix and Reloaded

The Matrix was supposed to be a mindfuck, or so I was told. I watched the first movie for the first time yesterday, and the second one just now. I've been wrestling with a lot of themes I presumed the movies explore. Here are some thoughts:

the red pill, as a symbol, is the only philosophical export. I was expecting some grand Marxist critique, but I'm not even sure words like capitalism were uttered at all. Which, I guess was a good thing. In fact, most of the movie didn't feel like it had social undertones at all. It was more about Neo's coming to terms with the concept of choice.
I'm glad the movie didn't veer too far into sophomoric philosophy major territory, airing vague grievances with forces outside of the individual's control. At the same time, I wish that they would've gone deeper into Neo, and all the other characters for that matter. They all had this sort of aloofness that made it hard to read. Maybe that's the point. I guess living underground makes man numb.
Other than one Redditor, I seem to be the only person alive that thinks the entire thing was Thomas Anderson's dream. Actually, now that I think of it, if that's the case, then Christopher Nolan probably had the same thing in mind when he made Inception.
They did just enough world-building. Actually, they probably could've done a litte more. I'd love to see the origin story. What was the world like as people were creating the machines that would go on to make the matrix? How in the hell did they block out the sun and dig to the Earth's core? Do all humans outside Zion live in those vats? I have so many questions.
You can tell the Wachowskis had fun making this movie. By my estimates at least a third of the run time prominently features defiance of physics. Today, we take this for granted, but in '99 this was cutting edge. Even the style of the film felt familiar because action movies for the next decade copied it.
In Reloaded, the second movie, I was again looking for deeper exploration of the characters and more answers about this unique setting. Instead, I got over an hour of kung-fu fighting.
Neo seems sort of dead for a guy that's supposed to be super man. Even his steamy sex scene with Trinity felt like he was some sort of android instead of a human.
There's also a whole political drama unfolding around the plot that is given screen time, but never really advanced the plot. Maybe this manifests in the third film, but I won't hold my breath.
The Merovingian was slightly annoying but he was the true chaos character the film needs. Mr. Smith definitely ain't it, and while I get that the bland, faceless thing is the evil of the matrix, the lack of compelling bad guy takes the story down a notch.
There was also the part where his wife pulled the power move to get a kiss from Neo and I thought for sure it was going to drive a wedge between him and Trinity but it never came up. Not even juicy inner chaos with Neo here.
When Neo met the architect, more questions, which I don't expect to get answers to. I feel like the sequencing around this scene made it feel very rushed. The man was deciding the fate of humanity and it felt rushed because we already knew that Trinity was in trouble and that Neo was set on trying to save her.
The final scene where "real world" Neo uses his gifts which were only available in the Matrix lends itself well to my theory that the whole thing is a dream I refuse to believe that this divide was judiciously constructed only to be leaky.

It's 10:17. Should I dare to watch number three before bed?